History thread

This is a rather hit or miss thread given how it's not a current day issue (although historians would moan and disagree)- like British politics is for example-, but a thread where people talk about history could potentially be interesting for us history buffs/nerds.

In that effort, here we are. The periods I could potentially discuss: Vietnam War, (East and West) Germany 1945-90, Soviet Invasion- modern day Afghanistan, Russia 1860- 1963, and I can also dabble with early Islamic history. If there's enough interest we could set up some sort of debate. Anyone interested?

Can't underestimate the Profumo affair, not only for its effect on MacMillans Government, but it was the turning point in the media reporting scandal - considering now they look for a story in almost everything, one may say it wasn't for the best.

"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher." - Ambrose Bierce

Langeveldt: I of course blame their parents.. and unchecked immigration!GingerFurball: He's Austrian, they tend to produce the odd ****ed up individualBurgey: Be careful dealing with neighbours whose cars don't have wheels but whose houses do.Uppercut: Maybe I just need better strippers

A lot of my study tended to be around American History, always found that far more interesting than European. Strangely at school I never did any modern British History, with it all stopping after the Stuarts (though probably picked up a fair bit through reading about the Napoleonic campaigns/Wellington etc..). Found Russian history rather dull TBH. Kill a Tsar, Kill a Monk, Kill a Tsar, Kill a politician or 3, Kill 30 million, Go ice picking in Mexico.... Really not much variance until after Stalin went.

And smalishah's avatar is the most classy one by far Jan certainly echoes the sentiments of CW

Yeah we don't crap in the first world; most of us would actually have no idea what that was emanating from Ajmal's backside. Why isn't it roses and rainbows like what happens here? PEWS's retort to Ganeshran on Daemon's picture depicting Ajmal's excreta

Traces history of US through the tenures of all presidents of US from Washington to Obama. Shame that some of the videos have been deleted. But look around YouTube to see if someone else has posted them.

A series of crash courses on major events in world history. The owner of the channel makes lot of crash course videos on mainly history, but covers a few other topics too. It is all very brief though, so good only if you want a real quick flavour of a topic. The guy inserts too much humour in the crash courses which can be annoying.

Can't underestimate the Profumo affair, not only for its effect on MacMillans Government, but it was the turning point in the media reporting scandal - considering now they look for a story in almost everything, one may say it wasn't for the best.

Sad news - if it it weren't for some US President getting shot the Profumo Affair would be the enduring story from the 60s - just Christine Keeler left now of the main members of the cast, and what a good looking woman she was in her prime

One thing that strikes me of the whole affair - nowadays a politician gets embroiled in a scandal its a short 'apology/resignation' letter, a nice word from the PM saying they will overcome this adversity, and a place back in the cabinet within 18 months. Only interest is in saving their own careers not making amends for their actions. Compare to Profumo who accepted he embarrassed the Government and devoted the rest of his life to making a difference to his community.

All Profumo really did wrong was to be a middle aged man who was captivated by the charms of a 19 year old beauty, a mistake that nearly all of us would make if we were honest, yet he took sackcloth and ashes for the rest of his long life

One thing that strikes me of the whole affair - nowadays a politician gets embroiled in a scandal its a short 'apology/resignation' letter, a nice word from the PM saying they will overcome this adversity, and a place back in the cabinet within 18 months. Only interest is in saving their own careers not making amends for their actions. Compare to Profumo who accepted he embarrassed the Government and devoted the rest of his life to making a difference to his community.

I suppose the vital difference between Profumo and the average modern scandal is the whole involvement of Soviet spies- which of course made it a potential national security risk, and so he had to take the hit for it.